Saturday 6 September 2014

Winter candle

Hi everyone, Amanda here again, this time to share one of my favourite techniques - decorating a candle by melting a tissue paper design into the surface.  For this project I've used inks and a die, but you can also stamp a design onto the tissue paper.  Once decorated, keep your candle in a cool place, out of direct sunlight.  As well as the kit from the shop, you'll need a plain white candle, white tissue paper, greaseproof paper, and a soft cloth.  I hope you like it!


First I mixed peeled paint and vintage photo distress inks together on a craft sheet and misted with water.  Then I laid some tissue paper in the ink.



Next I put some black soot distress ink on the sheet, misted with water and dragged the still wet tissue paper through it before setting aside to dry.  If you're in a hurry, you can dry it with your heat gun.


I folded the tissue paper in half and die cut 4 double thickness mini pine trees.  I dabbed the trunks onto the vintage photo ink pad, then sprayed with water to blend and let dry.



To make a wintery sun, I dabbed a little spiced marmalade distress ink onto my craft sheet, misted with water and laid more tissue paper in.  Once dry, I die cut a small circle.

Next, I melted the trees and sun onto the candle.  I laid each one in place and smoothed flat, then wrapped tightly with a piece of greaseproof paper.  I gently heated the design with a heat gun until the wax just melted through - you can see when this happens, as the colour of your design shows more brightly through the greaseproof paper, as in the centre of the tree here:



For best results use a new piece of greaseproof paper for each shape, to avoid a build up of wax  that can make the surface lumpy.  Take care not to keep heating once the colour changes, and peel the greaseproof paper away quickly and carefully.  Before the wax hardens again, buff the surface with a soft cloth to smooth it out.



Once all the tissue trees and the sun were melted into place, I applied streaks of chipped sapphire and spiced marmalade distress inks and midnight rendezvous glimmer glaze with a cloth to get a pale wintery sky.  Excess colour can be removed either by polishing with a cloth, or with a little blending solution.  Finally, I added a little frosting on the trees using Stickles diamond and silver glitter glues.




Thanks for reading, and happy crafting!

Amanda

2 comments:

  1. This would be fantastic and unique gift...great project, Chris!

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  2. Hi
    I really enjoyed this project ad will definately try out one of the versions of decorating a candle as I have wanted to for ages but never plucked up the courage to do it.

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